Conveyer



(No Model.) G; WI MGCASLIN 2 Sheets-Sheet. 1. ONVEY-ER.

No. 486,809'. Patented Nov.v 22, 1892.

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- (No Model.) 2 sham-sheetl 2. Gf W'. MCCASLIN.

GONVEYBR.

Patented Nov. 22, 1892'.`

INVENTORY WI NESSES.:

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

GEORGE lV. MOCASLIN, OF HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY.

CONVEYER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 486,809, dated November22, 1892.

Application'led May 31, 1892.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. MCOASLIN, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Hoboken, in the county of' Hudson and State of NewJersey, have invented certain Improvements in Conveyers, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to the class of endlesschain conveyers havingbuckets pivotally mounted in the links forming the chain, the conveyerhaving wheels which run on a track, and the improvements consist partlyin providing limiting-stops to prevent the buckets from rocking orturning too far on their pivots in the chain, partly in means carried bythe bucket for covering the space between it and the adjacent bucket atthe loading-point, partly in providing the bucket having a projectingcovering-plate with a limiting-stop to prevent the collision of thebuckets on their return, partly in providing means for preventing thebucket from tilting to too great an extent at the loading-point, partlyin constructing the chain of pairs of independent links having bearingsat opposite sides of the wheels, the links being longer than the bucketsand the buckets pivotally mounted in the inner links only of the pairs,partly in providing a bucket having a covering-plate and mountedpivotally at one side of its center with a limiting-stop to support itslonger end,

and partly in a novel driving mechanism, all

as will be more particularly described.

In the accompanying drawings, which serve to illustrate an embodiment ofthe invention, Figure l is a side elevation of an endless conveyerconstructed according to myinvention, and Fig. 2 is a plan of a part ofthe same. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are views illustrating slight variations inthe construction, which will be referred to and described hereinafter.

Referring iirst to Figs. l and 2, represents the lower portion of thetrack on which the conveyer travels, x the ascending portion of thetrack, :c2 the upper portion, and as the descending portion thereof.vThese four parts are commonly found in tracks for endless conveyers, butthey are arranged in various ways to suit the circumstances of the case.The form shown in Fig. l is simply for illustration. On this track ismounted an endless conveyer arranged to move in the direction Serial No.434,973. (No model.)

indicated by the arrow y. This conveyer is made up of buckets a,pivotally suspended in an endless chain. As seen in these figures, eachbucket has its pivots @X arranged at the center of its length or in atransverse vertical plane, passing through the center of grav- `ity ofthe bucket, so that the latter Will hang properly. On each side ofthebucket are two independent links b and bx, the pivots of the bucketshaving bearings in the inner links b of each pair. The track-wheelsc aremounted on axles d, the extremities of the axles forming the pivotswhich connect the linksof the chain in endless series. The links b havebearings inside of the wheels c, and the links bx have bearings outsideof the wheels. The advantage from using pairs of independent links inthis way is not only that the strain is exerted on the axle at bothsides of the wheel, but the construction permits the outerlink or linksto be taken o at any time and a wheel or wheels slipped off from theaxle without dismantling the entire structure. Moreover, Where the linksare arranged in pairs and the links of the pairs are entirelyindependent of each other lateral tlexure or seesaw is freely permittedin the movement of the conveyer. This independent arrangement of thelinks in the pair also allows the conveyer in changing direction to passabout short curves which the links subtend as'chords, as the links arenot in the plane of the track, and there are no ties between the linksto interfere with the track about the curve and prevent it from takingposition between thelinks of the i pair.

The buckets may be mounted in the chain after the latter has been set upby merely springing in the sides of the bucket on which the pivots axare fixed, and also springing or bending out the links slightly, it'this be necessary. After the pivots enter their bearings in the linksthe parts wil-l spring back from their own resiliency, and in theordinary use and operation of the conveyer the tendency l i of thestrains and forces is to keep the pivots in place in their bearings inthe links.

In order to prevent the material from falling between the buckets at theloading-point,

where a chute c will be placed to lead thek material into the bucket,each bucket is provided at its end with va covering plate or lip IOO a',arranged to take over the space between it and the adjacent bucket.Preferably this plate will be bent into a convex form, as seen in Fig.1, or have an inverted-V form,as seen in Fig. 3, as these forms allowthe material to slide off into the buckets.

As shown in Fig. 1, the conveyer is supposed to be moving at its upperor operation side in the direction of arrow y, and on this side theplates a are at the rear ends of the buckets, the plate ou one bucketcoveringthe space between it and the next following bucket. On the sideof the bucket is ixed a plate g, which projects upward back ot' thepivot a or nearest the end where the plate d is situated, and as thebucket comes under the loading-chute e the upwardly-projecting end ofthe plate g moves under a ixed bar gx,situated at the loading-point. Theobject of this device is to prevent the rear end of the bucket fromtilting up too much or too far when the chute begins to discharge thematerial into the advancing end of the bucket. Where the buckets arefree to swing the material tlowinginto the advancing end is apt to tiltthe bucket and overflow at its front or advancing end. Should the rearor following end of the bucket tend to descend at the loading-point orat any point in its travel along theuppertrack,thecovering-plateawillstrike the axle beneath it and prevent such movement. On the side ofthe bucket in front of the pivot ctx is secured a plate h, of curvedform by preference, which strikes a dumpingcam i on the track as thebucket advances, and this cani turns the bucketpartly over, so that itscontents will be dumped into a hopper or oif-bearing chute h', situatedat this point in the track. This feature is illustrated in Fig. 1.

At the left in Fig. 1 is shown the driver of the conveyer, said driverbeing arranged, also, to change the direction of the conveyer. Thisdriver consists of a wheel J, having arms with rollers j arranged in theends thereof. The wheel is fixed on a shaft K,Which maybe driven fromany source of power. The curved track 003 at this point is exterior andconnects with the lower track fr, and the conveyer is carried around bythe rollers or wheels j, which take behind and bear against thetrack-wheel c of the conveyer. The rollers j are spaced to correspondwith the spacing of the wheels of the conveyer and are so placed thatthe radial distance from the shaft K to the centers of the rollersj willbe a littleless than the radial distance to the centers of therespective wheels c, whereby the driver tends to force the latter wheelsoutward against the track ac3. In the elevation, Fig. l, only one wheelJ is seen; but there will be two like wheels on the shaft K, one toengage each set of the track-wheels c. In Fig. 1 the near wheel J shownis directly in front of the other.

rlhe endless conveyer may be of any length and the space between thereceiving and discharging points will usually be considerable,

although represented in Fig. 1 as quite close together. The upper andlower portions of the track need not be horizontal nor be parallel; butit is desirable that the track at the receiving-point be substantiallyhorizontal. As the buckets pass down about the curved descending portion003 of the track they turn over in succession, rotating about theirpivots, and when they reach the lower portion 0c of the track a stophxthere shown as alaterallyprojecting stud on the plate h) catches onthe link of the chain and holds the buckets in the position represented.rIhe object of this limiting-stop is to prevent the covering-plate a ona bucket from catching under the bottom of the next bucket ahead, whichcollision would be brought about by the efforts of the buckets to rightthemselves by gravity. When the buckets pass upward about the portion frof the track, they right themselves. The upper edge-,s of the links whenthe conveyer is on the lower track become the lower edges on theuppertrack.

Figs. 8 and 4 illustrate a slight variation in the construction. Inthese views thev pivots a on the buckets are not in a transverse plane,passing through the center of gravity, and the longer end of the buckettends tofall, but is prevented from dropping down by a limiting-stopconsisting of a laterally-projecting stud or part g on the plate g,which takes over and rests on the link b of the chain, a clearly shown.l

Fig. 5 illustrates a construction wherein the bucket-pivots ax areprolonged to form axles for wheels c, intermediate ybetween-the wheels,as arranged in the constructions previously described, and thechain-links in this construction are only half as long as the links inthe previouslydescribed constructions. This view shows the twolimiting-stops on a bucket pivoted at its center.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. An endless-chainconveyer comprising a chain and buckets pivotally hung in said chain,said buckets being provided with stops to engage the chain and limit themovement of the buckets about their pivots, substantially as set forth.

2. An endless conveyer having buckets pivotally hung in the chain, saidbuckets being provided with limiting-stops to engage the chain and limitthe movements of the buckets about their pivots and each bucket providedwith a cover-plate, which extends over and covers the space between itand the next adjacent bucket, said limiting-stops serving to preventcollision of the buckets when turned, substantially as set forth.

3. In a conveyer, the combination, with the track, track-wheels, axles,and chain-links7 of the buckets pivotally hung in the Chaim-each buckethaving a limiting-stop to limit the movement of the buckets about yitspivots and a cover plate extension at one end, which extends over andinto the next adjatio IZO

cent bucket, and a fixed bar at the loadingpoint on the track, said barbeing arranged and adapted to prevent the passing bucket from swingingout from under the coverplate on the next adjacent bucket whilereceiving its load, substantially as set forth.

4. In an endless conveyor provided with a track and track-wheels andwith buckets pivotally mounted in the chain, the combination, with a xedbar, as gx, situated at the loading-point, of the conveyer-buckets, eachhaving a plate xed to its side inside the plane of the chain-links andprojecting upward above the top of the bucket back of the pivot, wherebyits upper end moves under said bar gx when the bucket passes theloading-point, and means carried by the moving conveyer, which preventsthe rear ends of the buckets from being depressed too much when loading,substantially as set forth.

5. In a conveyer, the combination,with the chain, the wheels, the axles,the tracks, and means for driving the conveyer, of the buckets pivotallymountedl in the chain and each provided with a covering-plate, whichcovers the space between it and the adjacent bucket and takes over theaxle between the buckets, whereby it prevents undue depression of thatend of the bucket at the loading-point, the horizontal bar gx, arrangedin fixed position at the loading-point, and the plates g on therespective buckets arranged to move under said bar gx when the bucketspass the loading-point, and thus prevent undue depression of the frontends of the same, as set forth.

6. In a conveyer, the combination, with the track, the track-wheels,their axles, and the endless chain, of the buckets pivotally mounted inthe chain, said buckets being provided with projecting covering-plates aand with projecting limiting-stops to engage the links above and below,respectively, as set forth.

7. In an endless conveyer, the combination, with the straight tracks andm2 and the curved track ac3 at the point where the conveyer changes itsdirection, of the endless chain, the track-wheels and their axles, thebuckets mounted pivotally in the chain, and the driver arrangedconcentric with said track w3 and inside of the loop of the conveyer,said driver comprising a shaft K, wheels J, fixed on said shaft andhaving arms provided with antifriction-rollers at their extremities,said rollers being spaced to correspond with the spacing of theconveyer-wheels and arranged to bear upon the latter at points nearer tothe center of the driver, measured radially, than the centersof thewheels are situated, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination, with the tracks of aconveyer, the axles, and thewheels, of the links of the endless chain arranged in pairs, the linksof the pairs being independent and having bearings on opposite sides ofthe wheels, the buckets pivotally mounted in the inner links of thepairs, and limiting-stops on the buckets arranged to engage the innerlinks only of the pairs, whereby the space between the links is leftunobstructed, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

GEORGE w. MccAsLIN.

